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The Matlock Triangle - U.F.O. Capital of the World!

`The Derbyshire Dales is fast becoming the U.F.O. capital of the world'

Since the beginning of the new Milleneum it would appear – as strange lights in the sky around Matlock seem to do with increasing and somewhat alarming regularity – that the Derbyshire Dales is fast becoming the U.F.O. capital of the world!

`First-ever `concrete proof' of an alien craft on film'

Residents in this relatively isolated region of Derbyshire continue to be baffled and bemused by a series of U.F.O. sightings that have gained both national and international prominence and caused quite a stir amongst the world’s leading ufologists – especially a sensational six minute home-video shot by a Bonsall woman which claims to have captured the first ever `concrete proof’ of an alien craft on film.

Since the Matlock Mercury carried its first report of a U.F.O. sighting over the Dales in the Millenneum Year, there have been at least another 25 `sightings’ culminating in Sharon Rowlands amazing video footage which brought television news crews and reporters from national newspapers clamouring to her cottage at Slaley, high above the village on Bonsall Moor.

The 44 year-old mother of two was watching television with her husband Hayden, 45, when they heard an eerie noise and rushed to the window. What they saw at 9-15 pm on that night of 5th October 2000 astounded them both. Mrs. Rowlands snatched her camcorder and began filming.

“I was filming it from around two miles away”, she said, “It resembled a giant disc with a bite taken out of the bottom. It had yellow, orange and blue lights – with intricate markings and a dark circle in the centre” she added.

“As it hovered over the woods it seemed to expand and get smaller again. We could see it pulsing as if it started up – and then it just went. It came really close at one stage and I thought it was going to land in the field. You can hear me on the video saying, “Wow!”.

`It was like nothing I'd ever seen before'

Mrs Rowlands went on to explain that the object was silent and could not have been an aeroplane: “It was like nothing I’d ever seen before” she said.

In it’s May 2001 issue the UFO Magazine reported that Mrs. Rowlands had “placed the video tape in a bank vault” – but it has since been revealed that the six minute footage has been purchased by an American film company for a substantial sum of money believed to be in the region of $20,000.

Other Bonsall folk to report `sightings’ include the landlord of one of the village’s two pubs, Alan Webster of the Barley Mow, who together with UFO experts, eye witnesses and sceptics alike, was a guest on Carlton Televisions Central Weekend Live programme recently. He said, “I’ve seen an electric bar type craft, - and then a large UFO hovered overhead”, he went on, “Many people have seen different things – and one lady from the village has sold her video footage to Hollywood”.

Alan claims that a series of high-powered Americans have visited the bleak and mysterious Bonsall Moor following the spate of reported UFO sightings.

Such has been the impact of these amazing `sightings’ that a Nottingham based television documentary team have undertaken a six-month detailed investigation into the UFO phenomena throughout the region – with some startling results!

Their report which has interviews with credible eye-witnesses and talks with Nick Pope of the Ministry of Defence, also includes actual footage of UFO’s filmed over Derbyshire.

The company, Four Sheets Films, run by Director Owen Gaffney, with experienced Producer John Arnold and conspiracy researcher Trevor Howes, claim their results are `beyond belief'.

Their unique documentary based on the theme of `Space’ and entitled `The Matlock Triangle’ is part of Carlton Television’s `First Cuts Scheme’, which provides new challenges and opportunities for new directors, and is due to be screened throughout the Midlands region by Central Television later this year.

Their company has investigated a large cluster of alleged UFO sightings over a wide East Midlands area icluding Leicester, Nottingham, Mansfield, Derby and Chesterfield, - and the Derbyshire Dales in particular – with a reported `epicentre’ believed to be within a ten mile radius of Matlock!

Director Owen Gaffney explained, “I have been absolutely staggered by the findings. Many people obviously saw many different things. Some saw very bright white lights, others saw varied shapes ranging from triangular objects of pulsing lights, to a cigar shaped craft, a dome shape like a bowler hat, to a large glowing millstone”. He added, “The triangular shape has been seen in the East Midlands for ten years and consists of three triangular shaped lights with a dark centre and just seems to materialize”.

He was pleased and surprised by the interview at the MOD and said, “I didn’t think Nick Pope would give an interview. He was the desk officer in charge of investigations at Whitehall for three years. He didn’t do the interview lightly but said he was convinced that extra-terrestrials are entering British air space”.

Trevor Howes who appears on camera for the interviews said, “The story is amazing....Nick (Pope) said he had investigated many reports and had been given security clearance to talk to us. He was adamant that many UFO’s had been seen in the Midlands and claimed the facts could not be explained. He said the East Midlands and the Derbyshire Dales in particular was Britain’s top UFO hot-spot”.

What do other Bonsall residents make of these `inexplicable’ phenomena?

As reported in the Daily Mail on February 9th, Mick Pope, landlord of the Kings Head in Bonsall village had his own theories. He said, “Bonsall is very high up – 1,217 feet above sea-level – and after all the heavy rain we’ve had I reckon they’ve had trouble with the windscreen wipers on their UFO and had to come down low”.

Sitting beside a large purple-coloured inflateable `alien’ which currently takes pride of place in the pub entrance, Mick recalled UFO reports dating back to 1980. “But,” he said, “while I don’t doubt that people have been seeing things, I think the military are testing something around here”.

Perhaps he is right – or perhaps the fact that Bonsall is directly beneath the flight path of Europen flights to and from Manchester Airport has something to do with it. Who knows? Perhaps the `Matlock Triangle’ television documentary will shed some light into our sceptical darkness? Meanwhile, we can confirm that there have been no reported sightings of any little green men in the area......!